“If we want to survive and to remember what it is to be human, then we need to establish a viable pattern of activity for the whole Earth community. This community should be governed by the principle that every being has three rights: the right to live; the right to occupy a habitat; and the right to fulfill its role in the ever-renewing processes of nature”.
-Thomas Berry, Interviewed in The Sun, May 2002
This is a blend of several pieces I’ve written on Rights for Nature over the years, beginning in the early 2000’s. As one of the major tenets of Gaia’s Voices website, this is the first of many posts, resources, and news updates I expect to share on the website. And if you know of places, people, organizations, or situations that others should know about, please pass them along to me! Earth is facing runaway climate chaos, insults from industrial extraction, threats of war and release of massive amounts of radioactivity, extreme reduction in essential biodiversity. . . . And nothing really seems to have the power to just STOP it, to give Earth, and humans some breathing room. To take stock over where we are and how we can begin to repair, sustain, regenerate, and transform. Living within a living being – we have the responsibility to care for the whole. We will not survive as a species and certainly not as a civilization or culture if we continue on the death road we currently walk. Everything is speeding up.
We are not going to be able to deal with the many and varied impacts of climate change by analyzing or planning in any conventional manner. Climate change came about because we believed we were somehow independent from the Earth, living on it, taking from it, but not part of it. We created what Cormac Cullinan in his book Wild Law calls the homosphere, “a delusory ‘human world’ that is separate from the real universe . . . an ideal hothouse within which our egos can grow disproportionately large, swollen with the conceits of having mastered the universe . . . where only human beings matter, and some matter a lot more than others.”
Over the years I have often been reminded by those who would temper my obsession with the plight of Earth, that every civilization felt at one time or another that whatever catastrophe it faced would bring about ultimate doom. And while civilizations rose and fell, over time the human-caused damage would heal thanks to the resilience of Earth’s biological systems. But as I would point out, the difference between the rise and fall of ancient civilizations and ours is one of scale. Never before has a worldview as destructive as ours dominated, and combined with our advanced technologies, massive industrialization, and exploding population, we are on track for a mass extinctions, and perhaps, as many are saying, the end of the human chapter of Earth’s story.
It’s become very obvious that if the human journey is to continue we must let go of the illusion of separation and open our minds, hearts, and spirits to the reality that we are, as Thomas Berry states, “a communion of subjects”, not only with other human beings but with all of nature. And it is becoming increasingly obvious that not only must our economic system be transformed, but so must our legal system.
In our culture nature does not have legal standing. All of our laws, even those dealing with the environment, are human focused. We protect water for human uses, we protect wild areas so that people will be able to enjoy them into the future. We do not protect nature for nature’s sake but rather because doing so somehow benefits us. Even those in the legal professions who understand the deeper issues must ultimately couch their reasoning in pro-human language to be taken seriously. And while there are numerous organizations fighting to protect old growth forests, orangutans, mountains, rivers, estuaries and so on it’s a struggle and too often a losing one. Not to mention that what one policy or judge gives, another can take away. So nothing is ever completely safe. How many times has the battle to keep oil drilling out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge been “won”, then brought to the table again? And consider the plight of indigenous peoples up against a worldview totally at odds with what they know to be true. Tribal peoples have a continuous understanding of how to live with Gaia and they know how to communicate and participate with nature such that the balance is maintained and honored. This is something that western cultures have long forgotten, though I believe the ability lies within each of us, waiting to be awakened.
In his book The Great Work, Thomas Berry writes, “[E]very being has rights to be recognized and revered. Trees have tree rights, insects have insect rights, rivers have river rights, mountains have mountain rights. So too with the entire range of beings throughout the universe. All rights are limited and relative. So too with humans. We have human rights. We have rights to the nourishment and shelter we need. We have rights to habitat. But we have no rights to deprive other species of their proper habitat. We have no rights to interfere with their migration routes. We have no rights to disturb the basic functioning of the biosystems of the planet.” This, I believe, should form the foundation for an Earth-centered legal system, what Berry called, and what now others are calling Earth Jurisprudence. It would be a system that takes human rights and needs into account but not at the expense of the whole. For we are embedded in Earth and Earth is embedded in the universe and the universe is embedded in the cosmos. There is no separation in reality and nothing we do or believe will change it. We have been able to create our human-centered legal system because we live in that bubble of illusion, the homosphere.
Imagine how different it would be if trees had rights in our system. And rivers and mountains and lynx – more than just protection under some rarely enforced or totally inadequate act or policy. Accepted rights, understood rights, a concept we grew up with and didn’t think twice about.
In many ways I was raised differently than the mainstream with regard to nature. Growing up in the mountains and especially having the father I did, I was taught that it was wrong to develop wild places, that certain places were sacred (though that’s not the word my father used) and belonged more to the animals who inhabited them than to humans. And not only was I taught these things, I was shown. I was led to experience it. I consider this the most important gift my father gave me.
The thing is, it’s not so much about specific laws to do this or not do that (though that would have to be a part of it), it’s more about relationship and respect, paying attention, listening and honoring what you hear, acting on it, all of which would form the basis for an Earth-centered jurisprudence. We would have to find ways of awakening our innate ability to hear the voices of Earth, to feel deep within ourselves what is needed. I am reminded here of the work of bioregionalists, of permaculture, of gardening with the spirits/devas, talking to trees, getting to know a particular place deeply, to reinhabit it. When we begin to feel within ourselves that our relationship with Earth is reciprocal, and we are actually participating with it all – living within the biosphere, not the homosphere – then we will know how to create the kind of legal system that can work for all beings.
The way we govern ourselves, and the laws under which we live, are no longer suited to the reality in which we find ourselves today. If we persist in our human-centered folly we will end up completely destroying, either directly or indirectly through omission and ignorance, the diversity of life and spirit that took millions of years to evolve. We have already destroyed so much, and more with each passing day. I can’t imagine living in West Virginia, for example, where mountaintop removal mining has destroyed hundreds mountains to get at thin seams of coal. In a dream one night not long ago I saw a man standing in his back yard looking out at a war-torn landscape where a mountain used to be. His back was stooped, his face leathery and lined, but it was his eyes that haunt me. Pale blue and full of such pain words cannot describe. When we destroy the beauty and vitality of Earth, we also destroy ourselves. Even if our bodies live our spirits, our souls wither and become depleted. This reality, that we are one with Earth, must be understood and integrated into our legal system. Thus mountaintop removal mining would be illegal, as would clearcutting and drift net fishing practices and underwater sonar and fracking . . .
The biggest threat Gaia faces today is the seemingly unlimited power of corporations. Literally every challenge we face – from addressing and mitigating climate change to the degradation of ecosystems, and overdevelopment resulting in losses of open space, agricultural land, and forests – is connected to the fact that corporations have more money and legal power than citizens. People are often shocked to learn that local self-determination stops when a corporation comes knocking. Corporate profits are primary with regard to interstate trade, and it is enshrined in global free trade agreements like GATT and NAFTA. Even if a corporation doesn’t pull this free-trade card, it has bottomless pockets to sue. Locals are hamstrung financially, and often can’t find a good corporate lawyer since corporations hire lawyers from several firms, a tactic that ensures local citizens won’t have access to the best defense.
Therefore, working for the legal Rights of Nature is essential. Thomas spoke about the rights of nature frequently. In The Great Work, he wrote: “{T}here is a single integral community of the Earth that includes all its component members whether human or other than human. . .. So too every being has rights to be recognized and revered . . . All rights are limited and relative. So too with humans.”
I learned how powerless communities are firsthand fighting Nestle’s bulk water extraction in my small town of Fryeburg, Maine (where much of the water for their Poland Spring brand was sourced), and then fighting their proposal for a plastic water bottling plant in 2016, that would have been located directly over the aquifer. We lost the fight to stop or even limit bulk water extraction. Their pumping station in Fryeburg is right over the deepest part of the aquifer, and pumping is ongoing 24/7 even during drought years.
Citizens did everything possible but Nestle ultimately won in the state supreme court. There were obvious conflicts of interest in the courts and at every level of state government that were ignored. We were able to stop the bottling plant, and a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district that would have given Nestle huge tax incentives. Both were voted on separately in a special election, and our efforts to educate citizens about the dangers of the bottling plant and the non-existent “benefits” of the TIF were successful. Unfortunately, Nestle recently sold its Poland Spring brand and others, to One Rock Capital Partners, a global water conglomerate. Nestle was bad. One Rock is worse.
What happened in Fryeburg and in several small towns in Maine, is occurring in communities everywhere in the US and globally. Citizens are taken by surprise, and many fall for the lure of jobs and an increased tax base. But the promised jobs rarely materialize, and tax incentives ensure that the corporation does not pay its fair share. In my previous life as an activist, I worked mostly at the state and national level with other organizations and coalitions. I traveled a lot, spoke at conferences, taught workshops. But I hadn’t really gotten my hands dirty at the local level until this fight to protect the water literally under my feet. I learned a lot about tactics, strategy, reaching people where they are, etc. But the biggest lesson is that water itself, oceans, ponds, lakes, rivers, vernal pools and the ecosystems of which they are a part must be granted legal rights! Rights of Nature has the potential to halt much of the exploitative extraction and destruction, allowing Gaia to regenerate and flourish.
Rights of Nature is not a new movement, and of course Indigenous people have always been the first protectors. Ironically, they are having to fight to include the legal standing of Nature into their Constitutions because of the templates that were forced upon them by the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. Today you will find numerous success stories. For example, in 2008, Ecuador became the first country to recognize the Rights of Nature in its constitution. In 2017, the Maori people established rights for the Whanganui River in New Zealand. In MN, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe passed a law in Tribal Court protecting the rights of Manoomin (wild rice). Lake Erie gained legal rights in 2019, though they are being challenged in court. In the US, 36 communities in several states (OR, CA, OH, NM, CO, VA, PA, NY, and NH) have laws acknowledging legally enforceable rights for ecosystems. These are tiny victories, and they are just the beginning!
We know Earth can heal and has amazing powers of regeneration. We know that love and intention empower our actions and facilitate Gaia’s healing. Fighting piecemeal, saving one place while losing many others is not sustainable. The struggle for Rights of Nature may seem daunting. And it is! But there is no other option that would allow us to protect whole ecosystems and the species who live within them.
Resources:
CELDF (Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund; www.celdf.org) Helps communities in the US and globally draft laws that establish rights for ecosystems, as well as human rights to clean water and a livable climate, and to ban destructive practices like fracking, factory farming, and water privatization.
The Earth Law Center: www.earthlawcenter.org
Honor the Earth: www.honorearth.org
Bioneers: www.bioneers.org. The Indigeneity Project (one of many Bioneers offers) has many resources as well as interviews, projects, virtual summits, etc. with connections to other organizations and individuals.
Excellent article. Thank you so much for sharing and also providing the resource links. As a tree hugger from way back, it makes me physically sick to see so many trees being cut down in my area, to make way for ever more housing developments, not only for the loss of the trees themselves but also because the habitat of so many animals is also being destroyed. Where will they all go? There’s nowhere for them to escape to. :0(